First Confrontation
by Maelan Peredhil
Summary: Based on Lynn Flewelling's Nightrunner books. Thero and Seregil come face-to-face for the first time... And neither is pleased with what they see. Please R&R...
1. Thero

I wrote this story because I wanted to write a fan fic involving my two favorite characters from the Nightrunner books: Seregil and Thero. I thought it might be funny to imagine what the first time they had met had been like. Chapter two is the same scene done over, but from Seregil's point of view. I like to do weird things like that. So here you are...   
  
I looked up as the door swung open and a young man stepped into the room. Nysander smiled. 'Ah, Seregil. You're just in time for a meal. Sit down.'   
So this was the Seregil whom Nysander was so often speaking of. His former apprentice. As he drew up a chair, I watched him from the corner of my eye. He looked to be about twenty, but I knew he had to be at least twice that. He had the power, in a measure, at least. And he was an Aurënfaie. Nysander had let that slip in one discourse about Seregil. Seregil wasn't extraordinarily tall, and was quite slender. His straight hair fell to his shoulders, framing a face that looked as if it would rather be smiling than serious. He plopped down on the chair and helped himself to a scone from the breakfast table we sat at.   
'So who is that?' he asked, glancing at me.   
'That,' replied Nysander, 'is someone I've been wanting you to meet. Seregil, this is Thero, my new apprentice. Thero, Seregil.'   
Seregil's eyes widened, and looked disbelievingly at Nysander. 'I didn't know you had a new apprentice,' he said after a moment.   
'I haven't had him for very long. And you have been away for a while.' Nysander smiled fondly at Seregil, rather like a father to a favorite son. 'I've told Thero quite a bit about you.'   
'Really?' Seregil looked nervously at me. 'Not too much, I hope.'   
'Not at all, dear boy.'   
Seregil nodded, slightly suspicious still, it seemed. 'Mmm.' He leaned back in the chair and studied me. As I was pierced by that cold, grey stare, I could see an intense dislike in his eyes.   
I didn't mind, because I was beginning to have the same feelings for him. I wasn't sure of the full reason, but I knew most of it was due to the plain, simple fact that I was jealous of him. He had Nysander's obvious affection. Nysander had never smiled at me like that. He had never called me 'dear boy'. I believed that if I ever left him, like Seregil had, he wouldn't speak about me half as much as he did Seregil, and not nearly so fondly. And sometimes, Nysander would look at me in a certain way that he had, an odd mixture of pity and worry in his clear blue eyes. Granted, I hadn't been with him long, but I felt certain that I would never be as close to him as Seregil was. I was Seregil's replacement. And I was jealous.   
But then again, I was something Seregil was no more, and on my way to becoming something Seregil could never be. I was Nysander's apprentice, and I would one day be a wizard. It was the one thing that was mine, and only mine, between Seregil and I. I decided to use it to my advantage.   
'I learned how to light a candle yesterday,' I said, just to see what would happen. I was, of course, referring to one of the higher magics that Nysander had said Seregil had not been able to master.   
Seregil did not look amused. 


	2. Seregil

I walked into the room to see Nysander sitting with a stranger garbed in apprentice's robes. Some other wizard's apprentice, I assumed. Nysander gave me a broad smile. 'Ah, Seregil. You're just in time for a meal. Sit down.'   
I felt the stranger's eyes on my back as I dragged a chair over to the table. They weren't exactly friendly, either. A slight sense of competition rose within me. I think it was just my nature; I had no idea who the man was. But it was also in my rather inquisitive nature to find out. I sat down and looked briefly at the stranger. 'So who is that?' I asked.   
Nysander spoke. 'That is someone I've been wanting you to meet. Seregil, this is Thero, my new apprentice. Thero, Seregil.'   
New apprentice. It took a moment for the meaning of those words to come to me. Then it hit me like a stone. I had, of course, known that someone else would eventually become Nysander's apprentice after I had left. I'd known it since the moment I had removed the robes of a wizard's apprentice. But that didn't change the fact that I had not really expected it to happen, deep down. I felt as if Nysander would always be mine, only mine. But it had happened. And it hurt. It hurt to know that I had been replaced. Replaced by this pale, bearded, scrawny brat. My thoughts were coming in jolts, and that sense of competition soared. I swore to myself that I would be this Thero's nemesis and rival until the end of his days. Which, unfortunately, would be as many as mine.   
Aloud, I said, 'I didn't know you had a new apprentice.'   
'I haven't had him for very long. And you have been away for a while.' The wizard smiled at me in a certain way of he had. 'I've told Thero quite a bit about you.'   
'Really?' I wondered what had been revealed. Hopefully, not too much about my last weeks as an apprentice. Then again, Thero could find that out from any wizard. I looked at Thero. His face betrayed nothing. 'Not too much, I hope.'   
'Not at all, dear boy.'   
I wasn't too sure about that, but I decided to let the matter lie. 'Mmm.' I settled back and looked at Thero. Bilairy's Balls, but I hated him. Looked like he'd never seen the sun, like some nasty thing just surfaced from the ground. And I enjoyed hating him.   
And I could see he wasn't too fond of me, either, though I couldn't fathom the reason. He had what I did not, and could not have. At any rate, it seemed like we would have a lovely little war with each other.   
Then he spoke. 'I learned how to light a candle yesterday.' He was watching me closely as he said it. Illior, so the man knew the extent of my ability.   
I wondered what Nysander would do to me if I throttled Thero right then. 


End file.
